Sen. Maria Cantwell's staff has responded to a series of questions I had about Social Security. The questions followed an interview last week with Mike McGavick about his position.

McGavick said he supported means testing -- voluntarily at first but then mandatory if people don't send the government back enough money -- and shifting Social Security to privately managed individual retirement accounts. He would guarantee benefits of people at or near retirement age.

The heart of Cantwell's position is on her campaign website where she says she opposes privatization and proposes the "Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act" that would set benefits "on a more realistic assessment of how much elderly Americans need to get by each month." The legislation does not include a source of funding for the increased costs of the benefits, according to her staff.

The only extra money for the system would come from Cantwell's hope that the government should be able to get a better rate of return on the funds currently invested in the Social Security Trust fund.

Cantwell opposes any privatization. She encourages people to save more on their own but "believes it is too risky to convert an individual's Social Security account to an unguaranteed private account managed by Wall Street."

She opposes means testing or binding Congress to an up or down vote on a plan from a bipartisan commission, which she says would be abdicating oversight authority.